Peter and I spent the first ten minutes in my room cuddling and kissing. Then I held him by the shoulders at arm's length and just gazed into his beautiful blue eyes.
"This is so cool, thank you Peter. I love you."
"What do you mean, what's cool?" Peter asked.
"That I can hold you like this and look in your eyes and not get all freaked out. Peter, you saved my life. You kept at me and made me confront my situation and you also brought me to Ray." I held Peter for a solid ten minutes.
"I'm so glad you feel better. When I saw you in History that first time and you were showing the teacher where the book had all that wrong stuff I think I got a crush on you right then. I asked the other guys about you but they didn't know why you were blowing me off. One thought it was because of your friend Campbell but he wasn't sure. But I knew I wanted you to at least be my friend. All that stuff is over now and I have you, Mom says I can stay over Friday and Saturday and your mom said it was a good idea."
I held him tighter, if that was possible, I really didn't want the moment to end but it did.
"I never heard what happened, how did you get sick?" Peter asked.
"It was the German chocolate cake with coconut," I told him.
I related the entire, rather disgusting, tale, including interrupting my parents and barfing blood on their bed.
"Oh man, I walked in on my mom and dad once and Mom was trying to swallow him, I peed myself and ran away. I thought she was biting his dick off and she might do it to me too. I was only five," Peter chuckled.
"Um, speaking of that, I kind of want to um..." and that was as far as I got. A knock at my door announced that Bobby and Benji were there and they wanted in.
I told them to come on in, and Peter got to meet them. Bobby hugged me and Benji jumped up on my bed and kissed me and squeezed my neck.
They peppered me with questions about the hospital and how their daddy was home and feeling fine and just the regular rapid fire delivery of little kids.
"Hey guys, can you play quietly in here? I want to go see your mom and say hi and Peter is coming with me."
"Okay, are the Legos in your closet still?"
I nodded and drug Peter with me.
"What's up, why do I need to go?"
"I just don't want Benji getting any ideas where your dick is concerned. I plan to pay it careful attention on Friday," I warned him.
"Oh crap," Peter exclaimed and bent over slightly. "I just got a boner so suddenly it almost hurt. Do you really think Benji would do that to me? He doesn't even know me!"
"I'm not taking any chances, and I want you to meet Geneva, she's really nice and she's like family."
We found them in the kitchen and I heard Mom say, ... "and then he threw up on the comforter, passed out and banged his chin on the bedpost."
"Aw, the poor little guy. Sorry it ruined your night Nan, but it is kind of funny, I heard Geneva say. "Mine have walked in on us a few times but they've learned to knock now."
"Our daughter walked in on us and went after John with a shoe. She thought he was hurting me," Iris related.
I held up a finger in front of my lips and we backtracked to the stairs. I jumped off the first stair and we made more noise heading for the kitchen.
"Good lord I thought it was all four of them, Geneva laughed.
"Hi Geneva, this is my friend Peter," I announced.
"Nice to meet you, Ma'am, I met your boys. They're pretty cool," Peter offered.
Geneva crooked a finger at us and we came closer, she reached out and hugged us both and kissed us and patted our butts."
"Is Peter yours, Iris?" Geneva asked.
"That's my boy, these two haven't been friends long but they are practically joined at the hip now," Iris imparted.
"That's sweet, you know he reminds me of little Cam, his mannerisms and expression are very similar," Geneva observed.
I hadn't realized it but it was true. Many of Peter's mannerisms were the same as Cam's.
"I just wanted him to meet you and I thought I'd get some juice for us to drink upstairs."
"That's fine, Dear, just grab the jug and a few glasses," Mom directed.
"Okay, we'll leave you alone now," I said as I handed Peter four plastic tumblers and grabbed the grape juice from the fridge."
"Whoa! The stuff women talk about," whooped Peter as we neared my door.
Bobby and Benji were down to briefs and undershirts as they worked together on a huge tower of Legos.
"Is this normal for them?" Peter asked.
"No, usually they're naked, they get overheated easily and I've gotten used to it," I explained.
I offered cold grape juice to the little ginger boys and they really appreciated it. They left purple kisses on our cheeks as proof.
Eventually, Geneva and Iris took their leave and their children with them. I was sad to see Peter go. We hadn't had much time together. But Friday was just two days away. I looked forward to getting back to school. I had knocked out most of my homework since I returned home. I would read ahead some more and be ready to pick up where I left off.
There was a knock at my door and Mom swung the door open gently.
"You may have fooled them but not me. How much did you hear?"
"Just you telling them about me getting sick and Geneva and Iris saying that they had been interrupted too. I guess you didn't hear us when we walked up the first time so we went back and made more noise. Sorry," I offered.
"Don't be sorry dear, that was very considerate and tactful, women are a bit more open about certain things than men are," She explained.
"Geneva was very eager to tell Iris about you refusing money to watch the boys when Jack got sick. That was a very sweet thing you did and I'm very proud of you. Iris was quite impressed."
I smiled, not knowing what to say.
"Thanks for inviting Peter over for the weekend, I really appreciate it, I think I'll walk home with him Friday and meet his brothers," I ventured.
"Are you sure?" Mom asked.
"Yes, I think I'm ready. I'm able to think about Mitchell now without freaking out as I used to. I'm sure I'll be okay."
"Okay Hon, if you think you're ready I trust your judgement, I'll be here if it's just too much," Mom assured me.
"Thanks, Mom."
I read for a while and listened to music and then Dad came home and Mom made dinner. It was a nice quiet evening and we talked and laughed. Eventually I ran out of steam and went to bed. I had showered earlier, so I brushed and hopped in. Mom and Dad came by and kissed me goodnight. It wasn't long before my alarm clock was buzzing.
I met Peter at our usual place and we walked to school without stopping to kiss. I just kissed him as soon as we met and I really didn't care who saw it.
Wyatt must have been waiting for us because he popped up as soon as we came through the gate. He seemed really excited.
"The board approved our resolution, they sent it to the legal department to draft the wording and the high school kids voted for it too. It will be the rule district wide!" Wyatt crowed.
"Alright Wyatt, you did a hell of a job getting that through man. We're really proud of you," I told him.
"Me? No man this was us, we got the ball rolling and then everybody got behind it and it started with you guys telling everyone the truth. I know it won't stop bullying completely cos there's always going to be people who don't care about rules. But most of it will stop and it will become normal to have a safe place to go to school."
"Thanks man, but you were there too, without you it was just words, you took it to the council and got them to take it serious," Peter reminded him.
"Okay, so we did it together and that's what I was trying to say. I have to go meet the other reps about making an announcement so keep it quiet okay?" Wyatt asked.
Both of us nodded and Wyatt almost levitated to his next engagement.
"Whoa, he's pumped isn't he," Peter remarked.
"It's a big victory for all of us but especially for him. Can you imagine being so tortured that you want it to end and you don't care what it costs you? All the time I was suffering, I never even considered killing myself. Some of it was pretty bad but I had my Mom and Dad to talk to. So if I seem a little hung up on them you can understand, right?" I replied.
Peter grinned; we were standing in front of the school office. "Before we leave here for the last time, I am going to kiss you right here at lunchtime in front of everybody!"
"Sounds good to me, but let's go get some hot cocoa," I suggested.
As we were walking to the cafeteria, we were joined by Kenny Dawes. Even though I wasn't touching him, I could feel Peter tense up.
"What's up Kenny?" I said like I was talking to just anyone.
Kenny looked around but we were alone. "Um... I wanted to thank you Jules and apologize to both you guys. I really appreciate you helping me the other day, I was almost ready to lose it but you made me feel better, Jules. Also um... I saw you kissing this morning when we drove by. Look, I would never have called you fags if I thought you were gay and I'm sorry. I guess I should cool it with the shitty behavior. I'm not really like that, my father told me I had to be tough here or I'd get pushed around. I think he was full of it and I'm not going to act that way anymore and I also signed the petition, I think it's a great idea," Kenny explained.
"Alright Kenny, I'm glad you're seeing things differently now. We're all kids here and most of us get some seriously messed up information from friends or family. So do your own thinking and research, it might work out better for you. I'm glad you're making the change and I look forward to talking with you," I offered.
"Cool, I need to catch up with someone but I'll see you guys later, okay?" Kenny declared.
"Cool, we'll see you later Kenny, bye," I replied and Kenny trotted off to locate someone else.
"Well, that was a surprise but if you're done here Buddha, I still want some cocoa," Peter grinned at me.
"Namaste Peter," I said holding up two fingers. So he punched my arm playfully.
One of the things I really like about Peter is that he never questions where I learned something, he just accepts that I know it and moves on. But then he knows it too so I'm also impressed by that.
As we sat drinking our hot cocoa, we were assailed by the entire student council. "Hey you guys," Wyatt proclaimed. "The school board has received the draft proposal of the language for the resolution and guidelines from the legal department. There will be an announcement at an assembly on Friday and they'll explain how it will all be set up."
"That's really great Wyatt, you guys really worked hard on this and got results. Congratulations, maybe this could spread to other districts," Peter speculated.
"We can hope," Neesha said cheerfully.
"So, tomorrow we'll get a runner to bring you a pass so you can join us in the auditorium before the assembly. So think of what you would like to say to the other students."
"What!" Peter exclaimed. "You guys made it happen why do we need to speak."
"Relax Peter, it will demonstrate that we work for you and all the other students at this school. The others will see that they can voice their concerns and someone will listen. Please Peter, it will mean so much to have you guys there on stage with us," Sheri cajoled.
"Okay I guess, I never expected this though. I guess it's okay if it will help the other kids. I'll do it," Peter grumped.
Our little meeting disbanded after I agreed to participate and the school day began. Homeroom was lively and the announcement of an assembly was made.
It wasn't long before we were walking home after the day sped past.
"We need a park break," Peter told me.
We strolled in and relaxed under our favorite tree. We kissed and held each other tight and talked about the assembly.
"I want to make a statement," I told Peter. "I want to talk about what this step could mean for us and other students and those kids that are sixth graders now and even younger."
"Cool, I think I want to thank the sixth graders and Adam and Billy, if they weren't such pathetic idiots, they never would have been pounded by sixth graders and this would never have happened," Peter replied.
"That's funny," Okay then, I'll set them up and you knock them down, I think we should work on them as soon as we get home and then I can email mine to you and you can send me yours and if we need to change stuff we can talk on the phone. Does that sound good?" I asked.
"I wish we could just be together and bounce stuff off each other but we're together all weekend so that won't really fly with our parents," Peter supplied.
"It's okay, I think we can get the basics down and I can wing it based on my ideas, I took the public speaking class last year and it helped," I added.
"I took it too but I do better when I'm reading from a printed page. I promise it will be short."
"Well, give me another kiss and let's head home and get to work. I still have to see your uncle today; he made a spot for me after his last appointment because I was sick."
I worked on my speech until Dad said it was time to go see Dr. Ray. I sent my rough draft to Peter and let him know I was leaving but would check with him when I got back.
"Hi Doctor Ray, this is my dad, Dan, he wants to talk to you before we start," I advised.
I just wanted to let you know that John Keswick and I have spoken and we approve of a joint session for the boys, more if you think they're warranted," Dad told him.
"Very good, we can do that next week if everybody is ready," Ray answered.
"That sounds good to me, I want to thank you for all you've done to help Jules, these sessions have been fantastic for him," Dad agreed.
"Jules has done most of the work, I've only provided a forum for him to express his concerns and give feedback when necessary," Ray replied.
Dad shook Ray's hand and retired to the waiting room.
"So Jules, I heard you were sick, are you feeling better now?"
I told Ray about the cake and getting sick and what I saw in Mom and Dad's bedroom and all the stuff that happened at the hospital.
"Wow, that's a lot. Any lasting effect from seeing your parents engaged in sex?"
"No, not really. I hear them sometimes I was just surprised by the size of my dad's um...penis. I never saw it hard before."
"I can understand that, you can look at pictures all day but when you see the real deal it's something else isn't it?"
"Yes, I think maybe that's it. So Peter and I are checking out a new school Monday, it's the Crane Academy and it looks great on the website. We have to interview and then audit classes after a tour of the place."
"I think you'll like it, I know a few of the faculty. It's a very good school with good policies," Ray assured.
"Speaking of policies, our school district is adopting a no bullying policy at all the schools and Peter and I sort of had something to do with it. We have to get up onstage and talk to the whole auditorium tomorrow."
"Oh my, are you nervous about that?" Ray asked.
"Not really, I feel comfortable on the subject, I think we'll do really well."
"Anymore nightmares?"
"No as a matter of fact, I'm going to meet Peter's little brothers tomorrow. They look a lot like Mitchell. You know the only thing that's bugging me now is where I got the name Mitchell from. I never saw any news stories about it and my parents never mentioned his name. Where did I get it?"
"I have to admit I have no idea; at some point I suspect you learned it passively without trying. Perhaps you overheard a conversation somewhere. There's a dozen possibilities. I'd say don't dwell on it, it'll just bug you and steal away your joy at finally freeing yourself from that horror."
"Yeah, I think I'll just get over that part."
It didn't seem very long but we ran out of time, I thanked Ray and told him we'd see him next Wednesday.
I found Dad and we went on home. I told him what we were working on and he thought it was great.
"I'll want to read that speech when I get home tomorrow."
"Okay Dad, I'll save a copy for you. I may not say exactly what's on the page but I'll get my meaning across."
I had email waiting when I arrived home.
::Wow Jules, that's hot. That's the best speech I ever read. I'm attaching mine with this and I'll wait to hear from you. TTYL, Peter::
I read Peter's speech, it was good and it had a little humor in it which helps keep an audience engaged. I thought it would fly and I told him so.
We ate dinner and I worked on mine a bit more.
Mom came in and reminded me it was time to go see Ray. I slid my shoes on and followed her to the car.